


Fate & Justice

by Kleptomaniac_Can_Opener



Series: Aspects [2]
Category: Yoroiden Samurai Troopers | Ronin Warriors, Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Bad Puns, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Culture Shock, Demons, F/M, Horny Teenagers, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parallel Universes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-11 00:16:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11137470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kleptomaniac_Can_Opener/pseuds/Kleptomaniac_Can_Opener
Summary: Conner Kent has a new friend, but more is going on with the blunet than he could have guessed!Parallel series to “Spider on the Wall.”





	Fate & Justice

**Author's Note:**

> [I did a quick art piece for this.](http://dawneastpoint.deviantart.com/art/Fate-and-Justice-678225929) :)  
>  I plan to do a more elaborate one later.  
> 

Conner found the boom tube months ago. More specifically, he found the results of it. No tech was kept in the hidden confines of the scrapyard, no individual with meta abilities or magic was holed up there either.

He had been in the vicinity when he heard the fabric of space split open, and he caught sight of the light that had poured out. Wary of unauthorized boom tubes admitting alien invaders again had him there in mere moments.

What he saw was a floating rectangle of light with what appeared to be a picture inside. His heighten senses immediately picked out that it wasn’t a picture, but a window into another world. He was looking directly into another place. This was different from the teleportation technology he was familiar with that were tunnels of colored energy, was this a meta power or the mythic arts? A figure stepped through.

From all appearances, it was a human male in his late teens or early twenties. He was tall, a few inches taller than Conner, but he was half the weight with how slim he was. His features were small and slanted, likely an Asian, messy bright blue hair sat on top of his head and was kept out of the way of night blue eyes with a similarly dark sweatband. The window closed behind him.  
A steel bumper by Conner’s foot chose that moment to lose its battle with gravity to nosily slide down the side of the pile of scrap metal he was standing on.  
Their gazes met.

The stranger’s eyes weren’t filled with malice or fear. There was caution, but mostly they were bright with intelligence and curiosity. Then the pale teen smiled and waved in greeting.

Conner gave a small wave back. “Um, hi?”  
“Oh, English, good. I know English,” informed the cheerful blunet. “I’m new in town. Mind showing me around?”

~*The Parallel Dimension Visitor*~

The guy introduced himself as Touma Hashiba, which Conner knew was a Japanese name. The other young man didn’t seem to recognize him as Superboy nor the S-logo on his chest, and that was both strange and suspicious. Everyone across the planet knew this S, so why didn’t Touma?

“Who are you really?” Conner never was one to beat around the bush, even if they were in the middle of a café that the blunet had somehow talked him into. He crossed his large, muscled arms to up his intimidation factor, not that Touma looked the least bit worried.  
“Told you, I’m Touma Hashiba.” He drank from his strawberry smoothie before continuing. “You’re asking the wrong question.”

Superboy glared. He wasn’t in the mood to be treated as a sidekick. Touma only grinned.

“How about you tell me who you are first? There’s a lot of eyes on us.”

Conner was used to the staring and whispers so he hadn’t noticed, it came with the territory of being a well-known hero. However, he didn’t have a chance to say anything one way or the other before the pale boy spoke again.

“Ah, I see. You’re a Hero,” he said, clearly reacting to what a pair of girls on the other side of the restaurant were gossiping about. His grin grew. “What good luck, I’m a Hero too.”

~*Secret Dalliances*~

Conner kept Touma as his secret. There wasn’t a specific reason for it. He had determined that the blunet wasn’t a threat, and he didn’t feel like sharing. The break up with M’gann, and the reasons for his leaving the female Martian, had left him feeling raw and restless. Touma gave him something other than Justice missions and school to concentrate on, and hearing the blunet’s tales of his world—a parallel Earth, were fascinating. There were as many similarities as there were differences.

It was…nice. It was nice having a friend he didn’t have to worry about getting mixed up with the League, someone who wouldn’t be affected by his “Hero” status as Superboy, someone he didn’t have to hide himself from.

He sat at the usual café to wait for Touma to arrive. The blunet had sent him a text message that he would be visiting if Conner had spare time. With no missions on the table he had that time. Normally, he would be eager to see his secret friend to exchange stories of the latest developments in their busy lives, but last time his friend hadn’t looked well. He hoped things were going better for him now.

Touma strolled in, looking optimistic. Conner brightened at the sight. “Looks like you got some good news,” he remarked as the blunet sat in front of him.  
“I did,” Touma confirmed. “I found one, a dimension with Heroes but no Hero System.” The blunet always said hero with a capital H.

Conner mentally frowned at the news. He understood it was important to his friend, but the pale teen had refused to tell him why he needed to find such a world. He said he didn’t want him “too deeply involved” because of politics.

“So what will you do now, Touma?”

The smile his friend wore was one he used when he wanted to tell him, but he couldn’t or wouldn’t. “I have to research them further first, but once that’s done it’ll be a long while before I can visit again.”  
“How come?” Conner was determined to get answers this time.  
“Reasons.”

Conner abruptly stood. “Walk with me.” He grabbed Touma by the arm and lead him out of the café.  
“Where are we going?” The blunet wasn’t resisting, which the raven teen found out the hard way that his friend could do at any point. When the slighter male wanted to, he had control of the air. He wasn’t sure how far his control extended but it was enough to pick him up and toss him halfway across the city.  
“A place.” It wasn’t a real answer, but turnabout was fair play.

His friend chuckled and came to walk next to him, then had Conner change his hold from his arm to his hand. “This is more comfortable, isn’t it?” Superboy blushed.  
“Yeah.”

They walked like that through town. “You said you didn’t want me getting mixed up in the politics, and I get that.” Conner lightly squeezed Touma’s slim hand, again taking note of the calluses on his palms and fingers. He had his suspicions, but he was reluctant to force the issue.  
“But?” the blunet pushed.  
“Even if I can’t do anything, I want to know what you’re involved in. I can listen to your problems.”

Touma squeezed back. “You’re a good guy, Conner.” Night blue glanced up. “This where your apartment is? You sure you want to trust me this much?”  
“I’m sure.” He wasn’t surprised that Touma had figured out where they were going. He reminded him of Robin that way, the whole super smart detective deduction skills shebang.

His apartment wasn’t anything special, and he only got it when Superman suggested he needed his own Fortress of Solitude. He couldn’t see himself with an entire Fortress, thus the apartment. It was another of his secrets.

“Cozy.” Touma lifted their joined hands and kissed Conner’s knuckles. “Only brought me here to talk?”

The raven-haired teen knew his cheeks were red again. This wasn’t the first time the blunet had flirted with him, and he knew Touma wasn’t bluffing. “Just to talk,” he confirmed. His friend grinned before releasing his hand.  
“For now.”

Superboy grabbed drinks from the fridge while his guest took a seat on the couch. “Whatever you say, it won’t leave these walls. The place is soundproofed. Um, for all intents and purposes,” he corrected, since the apartment wasn’t proofed for super hearing. Touma wasn’t deterred.  
“Ooh, sounds promising.”

Conner cleared his throat at the not so subtle innuendo. He sat next to him and handed Touma his soda. “So talk.”  
“You’re being oddly patient and pushy in equal measures today,” the pale teen commented. He opened his can and took a gulp of Mountain Dew. “My world is under siege, and we’re down 80% of our Heroes.”  
“What?!” Conner jerked his head to stare directly at his companion.  
“And no, you can’t help. Politics, remember?” He sighed and leaned back in his seat. “My companions keep disappearing like they never existed, and I can’t do anything about it.”

The muscled hero slammed his drink down on the table, making it half-explode, but the mess went ignored. “How the hell do you expect me to not get involved?!”  
“This is why I didn’t want to tell you, Conner. I don’t know the enemy’s reach, I don’t know who the enemy even is. If you were disappeared I wouldn’t be able to save you.”

“I won’t disappear,” he ground out.  
“You don’t know that,” Touma countered.  
“Let me worry about that.”  
“It would be a moot point if you disappear.” The blunet leaned forward to place his soda down, at the same time bringing their faces closer together. “And I don’t want you to disappear.”

Their lips were close. Conner could clearly feel his heat, could taste his breath. Touma didn’t move to close the gap, and the raven youth was grateful that his friend was giving him control of their situation, of their relationship. This was different from M’gann; their relationship had leapt through high-stress situations and had its original jumpstart when he thought she had died on an undercover mission in a metahuman prison. Touma was persistent but their bond was relaxed and had developed naturally.

He shuddered with a slow intake of air, then leaned in.

Touma’s lips were soft and pliant, but in a different way from M’gann. His ex-girlfriend had been aggressive and pressed back, what was often called sassy. Touma was passive and compliant, like a reed that bent with the wind. In the back of his mind, Conner wondered if this laid-back personality was why the pale teen was able to be in an “open relationship threesome” back in his home world.

“That was nice,” purred the blunet. Conner licked his lips, he could taste the residue of cherry lip gloss.  
“You’re distracting me, aren’t you?”  
“Only a little,” he admitted, then he closed the gap between them again and they kept doing that.

They didn’t get any further before Conner jerked his head to the side.

“What is it?” Touma asked as Conner stood.  
“Bank robbery nearby, stay here.” Then he was out the window.

Superboy leapt from roof to roof, his super hearing leading him to the crime. When he reached the scene, a column of fire slammed through the front doors followed by an androgynous youth around 18 to 20 years of age with long red and yellow hair, and sun-kissed skin. The person cackled and dashed away from the building. Conner jumped and cut off the escape route with his usual BOOM landing.

“FlamBae, it’s been a while.” The superhero crossed his beefy arms and pinned the young villain with a stern glare.  
“Superboy, ‘sup?” FlamBae grinned, brandishing sharp teeth like a shark’s. “You’re looking kiss-bruised. Did widdle ol’ me interrupt?” Conner glared harder, unamused. The redhead laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes!”

“Put the money down and I won’t have to hurt you.” Blue eyes narrowed as the fire teen exaggerated a tearful frown.  
“Supes, buddy, you know I would if it was up to me.”

Superboy reacted instantly as something flew towards him from behind. “Ahh!” A bolt of electricity caught him in the side. A familiar and annoying laugh accompanied more zaps.  
“You’re fast, Superboy, but you’re not faster than light!”

The raven teen growled as he covered his face from a barrage of bolts. “Thundershock, weren’t you caught in one of Chronic Payne’s time capsules?”  
“Shut up! That was actually really scary! Bae!”  
“On it, fam,” the fire metahuman declared before running off again, until his feet were taken out from under him. “Hey! What’s going on?!”

FlamBae found himself hanging in the air where he wiggled ineffectively. The bag of loot was torn from his hands and planted on top of a tree. “Give that back, that’s ours!”  
“I hear the hitch of a lie,” chortled a familiar voice. Conner jerked his gaze over at the same time as Thundershock.

“What are you doing here?” Superboy demanded as he slammed his shoulder into the electric metahuman and sent him careening into a wall.  
“Nhn!” Thundershock slumped over, unconscious.  
“Helping you,” Touma answered with a grin. “Where do you want him?”

Conner groaned and rubbed his face with one hand. “Put him over there with the other one. I’ll tie them up for processing, you need to get out of here.”

“Hey, Superboy, who’s your friend?” Kid Flash skidded to a stop by his fellow hero’s side, his yellow outfit gleaming in the sun. Conner resisted facepalming.  
“This is, um…”  
“I’m Strata.” Touma dropped the wiggling, whining bundle of FlamBae in his friend’s arms.  
“Thanks,” he replied flatly. It was too late to stop the blunet now, he may as well play along and hope against hope that Kid Flash didn’t ask too many questions.

“Wind elemental, huh? I guess you’re new in town, cause I would have noticed you sooner,” the speedster declared with a wink. Touma grinned and shrugged.  
“Yeah, I’m from out of town. Just visiting, though. Superboy was being neighborly and showing me around.”

Conner had the two villains tied up by now and practically leapt to Touma’s side. “We should get back to that tour. You’ll take care of Thundershock and FlamBae, right? Thanks, bye.” He grabbed his friend and took off before Kid Flash could protest.

Touma found himself back on the couch in short order.

“What were you thinking?” Conner demanded. The blunet gazed up at him like he couldn’t understand what the problem was, and maybe he couldn’t. Touma was from a different dimension, after all.  
“A Hero shouldn’t sit around when they know a crime is taking place that they can do something about.” He stated it matter-of-factly, and Superboy knew he wasn’t wrong.  
“It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle, and you know we have a system,” Conner argued. “You don’t want anyone looking into you, right? It won’t be hard to find out that you don’t have records, and that would make the wrong people suspicious.”

Part of his anger was that Touma had put himself in the way of potential harm. The blunet appeared powerful, and he sounded experienced, but he didn’t know this world. He didn’t know the scope of powers, he didn’t have his team from his home to watch his back if he got in a pinch. Conner was hyperaware that his new friend was vulnerable with his slight frame that weighed nothing.

The other part was his selfish desire to keep Touma to himself, but now Kid Flash was aware of the blunet. It wasn’t like they really talked, and Touma gave him an alias, Kid Flash didn’t KNOW his not-so-secret friend. He knew he was being irrational, but Touma made him that way more than M'gann ever did.

“I apologize.” The pale teen stood, then slim hands cupped Conner’s face. “I didn’t think that through and I caused you stress. I’m sorry.” The raven-haired teen wrapped his beefy arms around Touma’s slim waist and pulled him close.  
“What is it about you that gets me riled up like nobody else?”  
“Pheromones,” he responded with the most impish of smiles.

Conner laughed and restarted their interrupted make out session.

Then the superhero groaned as his attention was pulled away once more. “One minute, someone wants to talk to me.” A blue brow rose in question. “Super hearing,” he explained.  
“Ah. I’ll wait here, promise.”

Conner hurried off, not in the least pleased when he came face-to-face with Superman. The alien from the planet Krypton, who was one of his genetic donors, didn’t look happy either. He wasn’t angry, but his expression was stern. “You have explaining to do.”  
“Why? I haven’t done anything wrong.”

The older superhero released a controlled breath through his nose. Blue eyes the same as Conner’s took on a softness that betrayed his worry. “J’onn has been tracking an unusual energy signature—you keep showing up with it. Kid Flash also mentioned your new friend.” His tone wasn’t accusing, he was simply stating facts. “What do you think we found?”

The young hero wanted to look away, but he didn’t. He had no reason to avoid the man who had come to be his brother and mentor. He wasn’t ashamed of his choices. “You found the energy signature.” He continued at Superman’s nod. “He’s not here to cause trouble, we’re just hanging out. It’s a free country.”  
“How much do you know about him?”

It was a fair question, he knew that, but it rubbed his proverbial fur the wrong way. “Enough.” That wasn’t true. Touma had told him a lot of things, but little of it was truly personal. None of it could be confirmed.

“Conner, is your judgement compromised?”  
“Stop it with the Twenty Questions,” the teen snapped. He caught himself from saying anything further and did look away this time. “I…”

Superman was silent for a long moment, looking his younger counterpart over. “Let me meet your guest.” There was another pregnant pause, but the Man of Steel waited patiently.  
“Don’t give him the Third Degree,” Conner stipulated.  
“I’ll ask only a few things.”

The pair returned to the teen’s apartment, but things weren’t as Conner had left them. Directly above the building was a boom tube, glowing and moving like purple fire. It was unlike any boom tube they were familiar with.  
Both of their comm units went off, then Martian Manhunter’s voice filtered through. “A spatial disturbance has appeared near your location.”  
“We’re looking at it J’onn,” Superman informed their alien comrade in the Watchtower, their space station headquarters floating high above the planet. “Where’d it come from?”  
“That is unknown. Flash and Green Lantern John Stewart are converging on your coordinates. Wonder Woman isn’t far behind.”

Conner dashed into his apartment, ripping off his front door in his hurry. “Touma!” There was a huge hole in his ceiling from the roof, the purple light shining down on a large bipedal blur that crashed through his far wall to the outside. He caught sight of a tuft of blue hair before they fell over the edge.

There was the sound of tearing cloth before the pair smashed into the street below, causing it to crater and spider web out for several yards. Dust and debris flew into the air, obscuring what was happening for a few critical seconds, then a blue and white blur shot out of the worst of the cloud.

“Touma!” Conner jumped after them, and ran smack into an energy field that shot him through the opposite side of a dome. “Ah!” He corrected his position before he could plow into the side of a building face first, and caught a light post with one hand to stop his forward motion. The post snapped in half but it worked. “What the hell?”

Flash was standing nearby in his bright red suit. A moment later Superman came busting out of the ground, and glared at the dome. “Yeah, we tried that too, kid,” the speedster said with a touch of frustration. “And it reaches underground in a full sphere.”

Flares of green light, evidence that Green Lantern was in the area dealing with crowd control, made a sickly background against the purple.

The last of the dust had cleared, allowing those present to fully see inside the isolated space without the need of x-ray vision.

Touma’s back was pressed against the barrier, and he was coughing hard into one hand that was now covered in some kind of white and dark blue armor. In fact, everything from the neck down was covered in a metal suit that had an unearthly shine. “Shit, you stink of the Youjakai,” the blunet complained beneath his breath. He struck an elbow against the energy wall, it rippled like water. “Not magic then.”  
“Touma, are you okay?” Conner wanted to reach in and yank his friend out of there, but he knew that was impossible.  
“I’m fine,” he claimed, but Superboy could hear his panicked heartbeats.

The pale teen pushed away from the wall to face the being currently regaining itself on the opposite side of the dome, which cleared it’s head by only a foot. It shook a bulky frame of thick scales and horns as it stood to its full height that was several inches taller than the Japanese, and it was hissing what sounded like words in a raspy voice. Conner’s friend didn’t respond. 

Superman’s voice broke through the silence. “Do you speak English?” The man’s stance had shifted to authoritative, arms by his side and chest out like a businessman. It was something that Superman had in common with his other genetic donor, the human Lex Luthor.

The creature tilted its head towards the Man of Steel, seemingly not worried about the other person trapped in the dome with it. “Ssstay out of thisss.”  
“You’re in our jurisdiction,” Superman continued. “Deactivate your shield and come with us quietly, no harm will come to you. I guarantee it.” His answer was scratchy laughter, then red eyes shifted their focus back to Touma.

Conner could hear that Touma's pulse had calmed. He hoped that meant the pale teen had a plan, not that he had given up. Flash was back underground in the sewers trying to find a weakness in the shield, Wonder Woman had arrived and was examining the boom tube, and Green Lantern was doing a final sweep of the area to ensure all of the civilians had been evacuated.

Martian Manhunter's voice from the comm unit drew his attention. “There appears to be two technologies at work. The first is the force field, a limited pocket dimension keeping the subjects separated from the material world by warping the space directly around them. The second is a meta-ability restrainer.”  
“He’s in there without his powers?!” Blue eyes were wide with dread. The raven teen stared at the extreme differences between his friend and the beast he was trapped with. The creature had height, weight, and bulk in spades compared to the willowy Japanese.

The beast growl-spoke again, and it didn’t sound pleasant, like it was mocking the blunet. To Conner's shock, Touma responded back in kind. It sounded a lot like he was egging it on and trying to enrage it.

“Manhunter?” Superman said into the comm link.  
“The race and language are unknown in all databases,” the Martian replied. “I’ve set the Translator to learn mode.”

Superman turned his attention to his prodigy. “Superboy, he said Youjakai earlier. Did that make sense to you?” The teen nodded.  
“That’s the realm his enemies come from, a place of demons.”  
“Demons, huh… And where is your friend from?”  
“…a parallel universe,” Conner answered, moments before the demon charged at Touma.

The half-Kryptonian shouted in warning as a large claw came down on the blunet, but then the pale teen shifted sideways and evaded the attack like a leaf moving on the breeze. His footwork was light and fleeting as he kept dancing out of reach of those deadly talons. The longer he kept it up, the more Conner realized the demon wasn’t out to kill Touma. For some reason it wanted his friend alive, and the Japanese teenager had realized this.

Green Lantern flew over, floating above their heads. “I’ll give it a go.” He pointed his ring at the shield and shot out a stream of green energy. For a moment the dome wavered but solidified again and deflected Stewart’s power away. “Damn, it’s an adaptive shield.”

More hissing and growling was traded between the demon and the armored teen, then the beast abruptly dropped to all fours, bringing the dome down with it. Touma managed to avoid getting cracked on the head by falling into a crouch. His pulse was racing.

“Isn’t there something we can do?” Conner demanded. Superman’s steel gaze stayed on the battling duo.  
“We can only wait,” Superman said, his hands in fists by his sides.

Conner growled in frustration, his friend was still dodging by the narrowest margins, but he doubted the blunet could keep it up much longer. It was amazing he was dodging at all with his meta abilities suppressed. Touma had said he was a martial artist, but this appeared to be well beyond expert level.

Flash returned and stood between them. “No dice. Any luck up here?” Superman shook his head.  
“Manhunter is still working on it.”

A shrieking roar shook the area.

Every gaze focused inside of the dome. There was black blood spurting out to drench Touma's arms—he had speared his fingers through the demon’s eyes.

The blunet jumped away as it started thrashing, but instead of keeping out of reach as Conner expected, Touma leapt inside of its guard. At the same time he bowled into its abdomen to force it to drop backwards, he shoved its left arm straight up. The falling shield smashed into the extended claws, followed by another piercing shriek.

In one swift motion, the armored teen grabbed the longest finger and snapped it off of the demon’s hand then rolled away. More blood spewed out as the creature lashed around in a frenzy, it had lost all reason. Deep gouges appeared in the concrete at an alarming rate, and if not for the sparks and screeching of nail over metal Conner would had thought Touma was cleanly dodging it all.

Bright bursts of red blossomed on a flushed cheek and over a blue brow, but night-colored eyes never wavered.

The beast stood taller to prepare for a full body lunge.  
Touma struck.

Like a crane striking a snake, he was abruptly in the demon’s face with a powerful kick that sent it flying straight up, the dome stretching with the motion. “No! Don’t!” Superboy shouted when he realized what was about to happen, but it was too late. It plummeted back down, right on the blunette’s outstretched arm holding the deadly claw.

CRUNCH!

The sound of bone breaking was unmistakable, as was the demon’s death spasms when its brain was penetrated. Black cascaded down the white and blue armored arm.

Touma gradually lowered until the carcass was sitting upright before retracting his arm from it’s head through the gaping mouth with splintered teeth and another gush of blood. Conner noticed that it flowed off the armor without leaving residue, and he couldn’t make out any scratches in the surface despite the abuse it had just gone through.

He felt conflicted. His friend had killed someone—it was against their code to execute their enemies, but Touma's life had been in serious danger. He was cornered, his powers suppressed, and he was cut-off from help; he must have felt he had no choice, but… “Touma?”

The blunet didn’t immediately respond before he picked up the unbroken hand and scrutinized it. “I’m fine, just a couple scratches,” he mumbled as he jabbed a quick punch at the palm. Electrical sparks flew from a broken device. Then he dropped the arm and proceeded to wedge the claw into the demon’s black-stained chest beneath the scales.

“What are you doing? They're already dead!” He winced as the chest and part of the belly tore open, spilling blood and greenish guts out. The claw was set aside before he shoved his arm under the ribcage.

Shortly, two pulsing lumps of dark meat were tossed aside with wet plops. They were desperately beating hearts.  
Touma covered his nose with one hand, then he took the claw back up and stabbed through the first heart. A thick cloud of smoke sprayed out, and the mass deflated like a balloon. The action was repeated with the second one.  
He dropped the improvised weapon then jammed his arm back into the demon’s torso, his other hand holding the body steady by the shoulder. He yanked hard and there was a dull crack. When he pulled his arm out again, there was a small device in his grip. The energy field’s height moved with it.

The blunet crushed it in his fist, the dome fizzing out with it—the smell was horrendous.  
He pushed the carcass onto its back and reached for the claw again, but he was quickly encase by a green orb of energy and lifted off the ground. “Hey, I’m not finished!”

Conner was by his side in the fraction of a second. “Touma!”  
“It’s okay, Conner, I’m fine.” The pale teen pressed his hands to the green wall, matching them to his friend’s. “The bleeding is superficial, I shouldn’t have any internal injuries.”

Superman knelt by the body and pointed to the side of where a belly button should have been. Green Lantern reached inside with a green tendril and retracted with a ring-shaped device the size of a donut hole. “Looking for this?” the black hero asked in rhetoric.

Superman stood, and Wonder Woman jumped down to join them.

“What’s this supposed to be?” questioned Flash, already by the alien device trapped in one of Lantern’s spheres.  
“It appears to be the meta ability inhibitor,” Martian Manhunter answered from the comm unit.  
“Is it tuned to only the boy?” Wonder Woman asked. “The rest of us don’t seem affected.”  
“That would be the logical conclusion,” J’onn agreed. “The tech in the reptilian’s hand will need to be brought in for further investigation to identify it.”

“Why are you holding him?” Conner demanded, jerking around to face the adult heroes. “He hasn’t done anything wrong! He was defending himself!”

Touma shifted into a sitting position, seated on his folded legs, dark gaze sharp and calculating. “They have no reason to trust me, Conner. I brought trouble to your front door, or roof—however you want to see that. Definitely your street.”

“Speaking of which,” Flash cut in, “how are we getting rid of that boom tube? More lizards could come through.”  
“You'll have to throw the youma’s body through it,” Touma answered without prompting, “the portal is tied to the youma’s physical form. You could also destroy 96% of the body instead.”

“Youma, that means monster, doesn’t it?” Superman inquired.  
“Monster, demon, devil, wicked spirit, along those lines,” the blunet confirmed.

The Man of Steel nodded a bit. “You’re staying with us for a while. I trust you understand.”  
“I do.”

“I’m coming, too,” Conner aggressively asserted. Superman nodded after a few seconds.

“But before we go anywhere,” Green Lantern cut in, “I think Wonder Woman should check this guy.” She nodded her agreement.  
“My lasso compels the truth be told by whoever it embraces,” she explained to their captive. “We would prefer you to be willing.” Her tone made it clear that it would happen even if he wasn’t. Touma nodded.

The orb morphed into a coil wrapped around the blunette's slim body, arms locked to his sides. Wonder Woman unlatched her lasso from its resting place on her hip, then tossed the loop to loosely tie around the pale teen's shoulders. He didn’t show any discomfort, but Conner felt horrible with the situation.

“The boom tunnel, how do we close it?” she questioned immediately.  
“Send the youma back through, or destroy the youma's body,” he answered with ease.

Conner's heart had a mild up-tick in pace.

“Which method is better?” she continued.  
“They’re equal in their result.”

Again Conner's heart sped up. He wasn’t surprised when Superman noticed. “What is it, Superboy?” All eyes turned to the young Kryptonian.

Conner looked between each of the older heroes and Touma. He wasn’t in the habit of lying or covering up the truth, he was pretty bad at it half the time, but he wanted to make sure his friend was treated fairly. He knew the blunet wasn’t their enemy, even if the Justice League thought otherwise.

Touma's eyes were steady when their gazes met. He wasn’t frightened or angry, he appeared to be accepting of his current situation. His calm pulse lent reassurance to that. “Do what you need to do, Conner.”

“Kid, what’s wrong?” It was the Flash asking, his voice concerned in that big brother way he had. The raven teen finally looked away from his friend.  
“You’re probably not asking the right questions. He does this thing where he answers without answering, because the question’s wrong.”

Wonder Woman’s marine blue eyes narrowed. “Are you a trickster?”  
“Nein,” came the quick answer.  
“Are you human?”  
“Sì.”  
“Fully human?”  
“Yebo.” A sharp tug had him answering again. “Yes.”

Conner hadn’t realized how tense he had become until Touma confirmed his human status. In the least, that had been pure truth.

Superman asked the next question. “Is it true you’re from a parallel dimension?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Why are you here?”  
“To hang out and maybe get Conner into my pants.” The blunet was unashamed even as the Flash started laughing, and the other adults allowed themselves to be amused for a moment. Conner was doing his best not to look embarrassed.

“Who and what was your attacker?” The Amazonian warrior continued. Conner tensed, they had reached the serious questions.  
“She called herself Muzu, she was a youma.” Touma's voice had gained a hard edge.  
“Why did she attack you?”

The words that left the pale teen's mouth were a garbled mess of hisses and growls. Wonder Woman cursed. “The lasso compels him to speak true, but not in a language we understand.” Marine blue eyes glared like needles. “You were testing that earlier, weren’t you?” The sharp smirk was answer enough, but he was forced to say so vocally.  
“Hai.”

“Touma, what are you doing?” the half-Kryptonian demanded. He couldn’t understand why the blunet was antagonizing the Justice League. The response was clipped.  
“I don’t trust them any more than they trust me.”

“Conner,” interrupted Green Lantern, “you should ask the questions.” Since the retired marine was behind their out-of-town visitor, the blunet couldn’t see him indicate the portal. Superboy's hands curled into loose fists.  
“Fine,” he consented. “What are all of the ways we can close the boom tunnel?” He held gazes with his friend, urging him to come clean without any tricks. Something in those night-colored eyes flickered before they closed.

“Throw the youma’s head back through, throw 30% of the youma's body back through, destroy 85% of the youma's body, throw 72% of the youma's target through, fool the portal into thinking you did any of the above, or short-circuit the portal to force structural collapse.”  
“You were trying to get us to get rid of the body,” accused John Stewart. It wasn’t a question, so Touma didn’t respond.

Superboy clenched his jaw. “Why do you want the youma's body gone?” When the blunet growled, Conner cupped the sides of his friend's face with both hands, ignoring the sticky blood on one cheek. “Don’t do this. Just answer me, I know you can be trusted. Why do you want the youma's body gone?” Conner's chest constricted. The pale teen looked pained and torn, and his eyes had that odd flicker again.  
“The youma is integrated with bio-tech. I want to keep it out of the hands of unknown parties.”  
“Now that we know this, under the assumption that we're not destroying the body or sending it back, what’s the best way to close that boom tube?”  
“Use an EMP bomb.”

“Did you hear that, J'onn?” Superman asked into his comm.  
“I did,” answered Manhunter. “One will be sent down momentarily.”  
“I’ll toss the ball,” Flash volunteered. “You guys take care of this and secure our special visitor.”

Wonder Woman retracted her lasso once the raven youth stepped back. “Yes,” she agreed, “this should be continued in a secured location.” Green Lantern picked up the demon carcass with another of his bubbles, then he started scooping up the discarded hearts and pieces of tech.

“We'll take him from here, Lantern,” Superman spoke as he stepped forward. He glanced to his protégé to make sure that he was ready, that he was able to take his friend in. Conner nodded.

The green bonds were released, Superman and Superboy each stood aside then took hold of one of the blunette's arms. Conner tried to match eyes with his friend, but the pale teen looked away. “Where are you taking me?”  
“Somewhere safe to talk so we can work this all out.” Touma's heart rate picked up for a few beats before calming again. “Touma, we're the good guys.” He didn’t think his friend needed the reassurance, not with how much he emphasized the “hero profession,” but he needed to say something.

They were teleported to the Watchtower, where Green Lantern lead the way to the medical bay.

The body was examined in a separate sector from where Touma was being checked. His flesh wounds were quickly treated, but he refused to take off his armor. The technicians used scanners to analyze his health and more.

“This is going to take a while,” Superman said as he handed the youth a bottled water, “go get some rest. It's been a trying day for you.” Conner's stare never left Touma who was on the other side of the glass, surrounded by machines. The inhibitor was secretly stashed nearby.  
“I’m not leaving him alone. If I leave he’s coming with me.”  
“Conner.”  
“No, he’s a good person.” He shot an angry glare at Superman. “He didn’t mean for any of this to happen, he was defending himself.”  
“We need to be sure,” the Man of Steel responded. “He’s not an ordinary human, that much is obvious. I want to trust him because you trust him, but we can’t take it for granted when unauthorized boom tubes and possible invasion are involved.”

The tall, green figure of Martian Manhunter, J'onn J'onzz, approached to stand between the fighting pair. “I have an update if you’re interested.” Both Kryptonians nodded. “Your friend is human as previously confirmed, and a metahuman by our standards. The device suppressing his meta abilities is foreign, but similar to technology we have.”  
“What about the youma he called Muzu? Anything on her yet?” Superman pressed.  
“Yes, and we may have found a related incident.”

“What do you mean?” Conner asked.  
“A small planet in the Promi Galaxy of the Rista System has allegedly encountered the species once before, three years ago.” He turned away, expecting the Kryptonians to follow him. “Their people were slaughtered.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Want to stay updated on my art and stories?](http://dawneastpoint.deviantart.com/journal/Check-Here-for-my-Updates-638603365)  
>  It'll be two steps because I'm not allowed to mention my personal blog on here.


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